Vehicles with inflatable tires such as passenger cars, light and heavy duty trucks, tractor trailers, buses, commercial delivery vehicles, among other motorized forms of transportation and trailers pulled by such vehicles are conventionally equipped with spare tires. Some spare tires are stored under the vehicle using a tire carrier which includes a tire winch for raising and lowering the spare tire between a raised or stored position and a lowered or accessed position. The winch typically raises and lowers the spare tire using a flexible member such as a cable or cord, which is wound and unwound on a spool or reel. A secondary latch is often provided to secure the spare tire in the stored position. If the flexible member or winch fails while the spare tire is in the stored position, the secondary latch ensures that the spare tire remains in the stored position.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,341, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein in its entirety, discloses a secondary latch for a tire carrier. The secondary latch includes a latch member, which is pivotally mounted to swing a pair of arcuate fingers between a locked position and an unlocked position. The lock member is biased to the locked position by gravity. The lock member is selectively pivoted to the unlocked position by a lever, which is activated by a cranking member when engaging the winch.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,079,932 a safety latch assembly is disclosed, which includes a pair of pivoted and spring loaded opposed latched to engage the shoulder portion of a support member. One latch has a cam or teeth to cause pivotable movement of the other latch. An actuator is required to pivotally move one latch on a pivot pin against the force of a spring to unlatch the shoulder. The pivotal movement of the one latch caused by the actuator moves the bottom end of the one latch outwardly and away from the shoulder and moves the top ends of the one latch inwardly in a latch housing. This movement of the one latch pushes the cam surfaces together to pivotally move the other latch against the force of its associated spring to unlatch the shoulder and release the safety latch.
Another example is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,267,546 issued to Dura Global Technologies, Inc, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein in its entirety. The secondary latch assembly includes a sliding latch member supported by a horizontal support surface and an actuator adapted to selectively move the latch member along a linear path between a locking position and an unlocking position. The latch member is adapted to permit passage of the shank portion but not the head portion past the latch member when the latch member is in the locking position and to permit passage of both the shank portion and the head portion past the latch member when the latch member is in the unlocking position. The actuator includes an arm pivotable between the locking position and the unlocking position and having one end extending through an opening formed in the latch member such that pivotal movement of the arm linearly moves the latch member. The actuator further includes a spring member biasing the arm to the locking position. Various alternative embodiments are also disclosed wherein the actuator arm is connected to the latch member with a pin-and-slot connection and wherein the latch member has resilient fingers.
While these secondary latches may effectively retain the spare tire in the stored position under some conditions. They have numerous shortcomings. For example, these mechanisms are fairly complex require a relatively large number of parts, and are subject to corrosion from road salt. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a secondary latch, which has reduced a number of total parts, is less prone to salt corrosion, and has reduced assembly complexity.
The present invention provides a latch mechanism for a vehicle, which overcomes some of the above-noted problems of the related art. According to the present invention, a latch assembly is adapted for use with a vehicle tire carrier. The tire carrier has a flexible member, a tire and a lock bracket. The lock bracket has a portion forming an aperture. Additionally, a hook mechanism is disposed in the aperture for latching the tire to the lock bracket when the flexible member breaks.
The advantage of the present invention is that the latch device is simple, more reliable and requires fewer parts. From the foregoing disclosure and the following more detailed description of the preferred embodiment, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention provides a significant advance in the technology and art of latching mechanisms. Particularly significant in this regard is the potential the invention affords for providing a lightweight, high quality, feature-rich, low cost assembly. Additional features and advantages of the preferred embodiment, will be better understood in view of the detailed description provided below.
It should be understood that the appended drawings are not necessarily to scale, presenting a somewhat simplified representation of various preferred features illustrative of the basic principles of the invention. The specific design features of a latching mechanism as disclosed herein, including, for example, specific shapes of the lock member or actuator arm will be determined in part by the particular intended application and use environment. Certain features of the illustrated embodiments have been enlarged or distorted relative to others to facilitate visualization and clear understanding. In particular, thin features may be thickened, for example, for clarity or illustration. All references to direction and position, unless otherwise indicated, refer to the orientation of the tire carrier illustrated in the drawings. In general, up or upward refers to an upward direction in the plane of the paper and down or downward refers to a downward direction in the plane of the paper.